In The 'Cachttp://inthecac.com
11 Schools, One 'CacMon, 27 Oct 2014 19:09:21 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.6Bates Students Up In Arms Over Abrupt Cancellation of “Trick or Drink”http://inthecac.com/2014/10/27/bates-students-up-in-arms-over-abrupt-cancellation-of-trick-or-drink/
http://inthecac.com/2014/10/27/bates-students-up-in-arms-over-abrupt-cancellation-of-trick-or-drink/#commentsMon, 27 Oct 2014 16:35:33 +0000http://inthecac.com/?p=224362UPDATE 10/21 3:00 p.m.: During the forum on Trick or Drink’s cancellation, Dean McIntosh, in response to questions about what kind of changes to Bates social life the administration envisioned, “emphasized the curbing [of] unacceptable social behavior at large events” according to a Bates Student article on the forum. “’I saw the fall-out from 80s Dance,’ McIntosh said, ‘And we need to do something to help the drinking issue.’ For example, McIntosh mentioned that pizza will be provided at Halloween Dance.”

For those worried that the administration wasn’t serious about changing the drinking culture: Yes, there was pizza at the dance. Oddly enough, some students appeared ungrateful for the pizza initiative, suggesting perhaps that a few slices of ‘za won’t make up for the indefinite cancellation of Trick or Drink. The scene below was allegedly constructed by the sailing team last night, though seeing as it was hastily removed (the grass has already been replanted!) it seems doubtful anyone will rush to take responsibility.

In a move met with nearly-uniform surprise and derision, Bates administration announced just before Fall Break that the popular pre-Halloween tradition called “Trick or Drink” would be cancelled, and efforts to continue the event (in which students cycle through several theme parties hosted by students living off-campus) would result in disciplinary action, including student-athletes receiving athletic suspension.

As the date of the would-be event approaches, a plethora of letters have been written, forums have been held, and a pro-Trick or Drink petition has garnered nearly 600 signatures.

Dean of Students and Vice President of Student Affairs Joshua McIntosh, who sent the all-campus email announcing the decision, is new to the College this year, and says he learned about Trick or Drink during conversations with students at the beginning of the semester. The decision to cancel the event, which was made without student input, is part of an initiative to reduce “binge and underage drinking”, according to Dean McIntosh, who told students at a forum that off-campus seniors should not host first-years. This elicited further furor among students, who see the Trick or Drink decision as continuous with Bates’ attempts to increase control over over the College’s social scene while ignoring the realities of underage drinking and without offering a viable alternative to the status quo. Students say that while in the past they have had no problems with drinking beer and having casual parties, recently campus security has cracked down hard on any and all underage drinking, forcing students underground–and off-campus–to avoid disciplinary action.

Students have organized a campaign to withhold senior gift donations unless Trick or Drink is allowed to continue, but the administration seems unlikely to reverse their decision at this stage. Rather, Dean McIntosh has stated his intention to form a committee of students that, beginning next month, will “evaluate aspects of Bates social life.” It is unclear as of yet what concrete steps the administration will take, if any, to change the social atmosphere.

For what it’s worth, the College’s decision has indeed led to an increased dialogue about Batesies’ drinking habits, though the College doesn’t make out in a particularly positive light. Though obviously losing the opportunity to have a fun party and get drunk around Halloween is part of students’ anger, the loss of a hallowed tradition–and the worry about what might come next–has dominated the discussion. Says Grace Pezzella ’15 in a letter to President Clayton and Dean McIntosh:

We are not upset because we have lost an opportunity to drink. We are disappointed in the unnecessary loss of another tradition that brought us together as a community, and the lack of faith our administration demonstrated in us by making this decision a closed process. I love this school because of what it represents in theory, but the reality is that Bates College no longer resembles the fun-loving, democratic, and open environment into which I matriculated.

Collin McCullough ’14, last year’s commencement speaker, framed Trick or Drink in an op-ed for the Bates Studentas part of a greater discussion about drinking culture that the administration is getting wrong:

The thing about all this is that it is not a Bates specific issue, it’s a nationwide issue. College kids are going to drink. Administrations are going to try to stop them from doing so and prolifically fail. There’s an amazing pattern here. Prohibition doesn’t work, but education and providing a safe environment to drink does (relatively speaking). Instead of pretending the issue will go away if another rule is made, let’s use the awesome creativity we possess as liberal arts students to find unorthodox solutions. And let’s start by involving students in the discussion.

And while some have framed the outcry over Trick or Drink as merely the complaints of a privileged white majority that should rather concern themselves with more important social justice issues, students of all stripes have spoken out and claimed the event as one that belongs to everyone. And while the event may not go on, the conversation certainly will–and indeed must–if the administration is to maintain credibility moving forward.

We will update this post with more information as it becomes available.

]]>http://inthecac.com/2014/10/27/bates-students-up-in-arms-over-abrupt-cancellation-of-trick-or-drink/feed/0“The time has come”: Wesleyan Fraternities To Go Co-edhttp://inthecac.com/2014/09/22/the-time-has-come-wesleyan-fraternities-to-go-co-ed/
http://inthecac.com/2014/09/22/the-time-has-come-wesleyan-fraternities-to-go-co-ed/#commentsMon, 22 Sep 2014 16:59:25 +0000http://inthecac.com/?p=201281This morning, Wesleyan President Michael Roth ’78 and Chair of the Board of Trustees Joshua Boger ’73 announced via email to the University community that within three years the remaining residential fraternities must co-educate. The mandate does not just call for women to become integrated into the residential houses, but rather that they must become full-fledged equal members of the organizations themselves. As of two weeks ago there were three residential fraternities at Wesleyan: Psi U, DKE, and Beta. Beta lost their house effective Sept. 15 after a string of high-profile incidents, the latest being a sophomore girl falling from a third-floor window and sustaining serious injuries. A University spokesperson told Wesleying that as for Beta, if the organization “reorganizes on campus, then they will be subject to this as well and the process will go forward like it will with DKE and Psi U… This really depends on their reorganization, if it happens.”

The Trustees’ decision comes after hundreds of students, alumni, faculty and staff signed a petition urging the co-education of fraternities, largely in response to the string of sexual assaults at the fraternity houses. The University spokesperson said that “this has actually been under discussion for a long time … what was driving this was really the desire to get closer to Wesleyan’s tradition of progressive leadership… [because] the three residential fraternities—now two, effectively—were the only, not only residential spaces, but social spaces that were not co-educational.” It is unclear whether the fraternities will be able to survive this drastic change, but a Psi U representative told Business Insider that they will be still able to retain national recognition if they integrate. Trinity introduced a similar policy in 2012, and many frats have found it difficult to find enough women willing to join.

Full text of Roth and Boger’s email below:

To the Wesleyan community:

As you may know, we have been considering the future role of Greek life at Wesleyan, and over the summer a great many Wesleyan alumni, students and faculty offered their views. Some have urged that we preserve the status quo; others have argued for the elimination of all exclusive social societies. The trustees and administration recognize that residential fraternities have contributed greatly to Wesleyan over a long period of time, but we also believe they must change to continue to benefit their members and the larger campus community. With equity and inclusion in mind, we have decided that residential fraternities must become fully co-educational over the next three years. If the organizations are to continue to be recognized as offering housing and social spaces for Wesleyan students, women as well as men must be full members and well-represented in the body and leadership of the organization.

This change is something that Wesleyan and the fraternities have been contemplating for many years, and now the time has come. The University looks forward to receiving plans from the residential fraternities to co-educate, after which it will work closely with them to make the transition as smooth as possible.

Our residential Greek organizations inspire loyalty, community and independence. That’s why all our students should be eligible to join them. Although this change does not affect nonresidential organizations, we are hopeful that groups across the University will continue to work together to create a more inclusive, equitable and safer campus. We look forward to working with all campus constituencies to improve the residential experience of Wesleyan students now and for generations to come.

Joshua Boger ’73, P’06, P’09
Chair, Board of Trustees

Michael S. Roth ’78
President

]]>http://inthecac.com/2014/09/22/the-time-has-come-wesleyan-fraternities-to-go-co-ed/feed/0A Weird Week at Wes (UPDATED)http://inthecac.com/2014/09/10/a-weird-week-at-wes/
http://inthecac.com/2014/09/10/a-weird-week-at-wes/#commentsWed, 10 Sep 2014 16:20:24 +0000http://inthecac.com/?p=189894UPDATE: Beta, the fraternity where a sophomore girl (who is still in intensive care) fell from a third floor window on Sunday, will off-limits to students for the rest of the academic year. President Roth sent a campus-wide email announcing that “based on the long history of incidents there” the Beta house will be closed an fraternity members moved to alternative housing. Full text of the email below:

To the Wesleyan Community:

We write to announce that the Beta Theta Pi residence at 184 High Street will be off-limits to all Wesleyan students effective Monday, September 15, 2014. The students currently living there will be provided with alternative university housing. The decision to prohibit students from using the Beta house is based on the long history of incidents there. Most recently, during a party at the house a student fell from a third floor window and was seriously injured. We have lost confidence in the ability of the fraternity members to manage social and residential activities at the house and abide by university policies. Wesleyan has an obligation to do what it reasonably can to ensure the safety of every member of the community, including the Beta fraternity members and their guests. The Beta house will remain off-limits to all Wesleyan students for the rest of the academic year at least. Down the road we are open to seeing from the fraternity a considered plan for the house and social activities there that satisfies our expectations for residential life at our university.

The long history Roth and Whaley refer includes sexual assault complaints and lawsuits, which we’ve written about here. This decision comes amidst a campaign by Wesleyan students and faculty to co-educate or eliminate fraternities after a number of other sexual assault complaints and growing dissatisfaction with their contribution to the University’s social atmosphere. The sexual assault complaints in particular have embarrassed the administration, which could take this opportunity to significantly reevaluate the fraternities’ status on campus. According to Wesleying, who broke the story, “a final decision on the permanence of [the Beta] resolution will be made by the Board of Trustees when they are on campus in two weeks.”

——

It’s been a trying, strange week at Wesleyan to kick off the school year (obviously they can’t start off normally like the rest of us).

First, and quite tragically, a female sophomore was hospitalized after falling from a third-floor window at the Beta fraternity early Sunday morning. The student was airlifted to a hospital in Hartford where she remains hospitalized for “multiple and serious injuries,” according to Dean Mike Whalen. Thankfully, the Hartford Courantreports that the student is now in “stable” condition. Beta, whose recent troubled, lawsuit-riddled history can be sampled here, was apparently having people over that night. Witnesses report thinking it was a typical night before hearing something fall in the parking lot. While members of Beta wouldn’t comment when approached by the Courant, the fraternity president Niall Devaney issued this statement:

The fraternity continues to keep this young woman’s recovery the highest priority following this accident. Our chapter’s undergraduate leadership and her friends who are members of the fraternity traveled to Hartford to support her and her family during this difficult time. While we continue to cooperate fully with all authorities and university officials in an investigation into the incident, the fraternity asks for the respect of privacy for the young woman and her family.

Next, our pals at Wesleying reported yesterday that the highly-regarded University Librarian, Pat Tully, was unceremoniously fired the day before first-year orientation began due to disagreement with Provost Ruth Weissman. Unlike most personnel changes, which administrations prefer to keep under the radar (for obvious reasons), Tully’s firing was thrust out in the open when she determined that she was not legally barred from discussing the circumstances of her firing. Thus, on Sept. 2 Tully emailed the faculty listserv an explanation of her departure (which Wesleying got their hands on yesterday), in which she points to sharp disagreements with Weissman about “about the role of the University Librarian and the library at Wesleyan,” and “about how to lead people effectively in an organization”.

Pat Tully

So far the administration has refused to comment on Tully’s departure, but her firing is sure to ignite debate over staff retention and treatment — in her letter Tully claims that “staff are regarded as instruments to be used and discarded” at the University. And, for students’ sake, hopefully the administration is able to articulate a vision for the role of librarians and the library at the University in lieu of someone who seems to have been fired for trying to do just that.

Full text of Tully’s email below:

]]>http://inthecac.com/2014/09/10/a-weird-week-at-wes/feed/0Ivy League Sweater Startup Hillflint Coming To The ‘Cachttp://inthecac.com/2014/09/10/ivy-league-sweater-startup-hillflint-coming-to-the-cac/
http://inthecac.com/2014/09/10/ivy-league-sweater-startup-hillflint-coming-to-the-cac/#commentsWed, 10 Sep 2014 15:46:03 +0000http://inthecac.com/?p=188436We don’t write about Ivy League-related matters too often on In The ‘Cac, but the Hillflint story has finally become relevant. Hillflint is a startup sweater brand founded by two recent Ivy League grads (Woody Hines and John Shi) who set out to shake up the collegiate apparel landscape by designing the perfect sweater and eliminating middleman markups. The guys just released Amherst and Williams sweaters in time for Fall, and I’m told Trinity and Tufts gear is on the way. The brand is already a big deal in the Ivy League (apparently Dartmouth president Phil Hanlon has worn his class sweater for a few big speeches), and based on initial sales is poised to become the next big thing in the ‘Cac as well. We asked Woody a few questions about running a startup, bookstore apparel and what he thinks about NESCAC students (particularly rabid Trinity squash fans).

In the 1960s, a Japanese photographer captured images of students on Ivy League style for a photobook called “Take Ivy.” One of the images showed a guy in a cafeteria line wearing a sweater with his class year knit across the chest. That was the inspiration for our very first product, the Class Year sweater. In a similar vein, we stock letter sweaters, known as our Heritage Sweater. We’ll continue to sell these items and this year we’re excited about expanding some of our styles that go beyond this classic 1960s inspiration.

For our college sweaters all of the graphics/logos are knit as part of the sweater (as opposed to embrodiered, printed on, added as an applique). The graphic looks like it’s part of the sweater. We love the look of it.

ITC: What’s your opinion of the current bookstore-centric college apparel scene?

Woody: The customer pays a lot and gets poor quality. A college tee shirt that costs $2 to make can cost $25 in a bookstore. Brands pay to manufacture but then sell that product to a distributor who marks the product up by as much as 2x or more, who then sells it to a store, where the store commands as much as a 3x markup. By bypassing the distributor and selling almost entirely online we provide customers with unparalleled levels of quality for the cost they are paying. When we do sell to stores, we’re not using a distributor, and we also negotiate and pinch our margins to make sure it remains as affordable to the customer in store as it is on our website.

It’s amazing what the chain of markups will do for a typical garment. One senior-level employee from a major department store noted that a sweater of our quality would typically cost about $300 in stores.

ITC: What are some of the biggest challenges you guys faced as recent college grads trying to start a business?

Woody: The biggest challenges we face have nothing to do with our age but just have to do with making sure things go smoothly. We received a batch of about 1,000 sweaters and noticed that some of them were mistagged. Absent proper tagging, we didn’t have any quick system for identifying which sweaters went to which customers and the sweaters were due to customers in about two weeks.

We unpacked every sweater from the cargo boxes, took every sweater out of its adhesive-shut polybag, stacked the polybags in a bin, unfolded the sweaters on a table, pulled the tissue that came inside the sweater, stacked the tissue in a separate bin, measured the sweater’s arms and back length to determine which size it was, marked on the tag the proper size, stacked the sweaters when we finished measuring them, took them upstairs along with the tissue and polybag, put the tissue in the sweater, folded the sweater, put the sweater in the polybag and sealed it shut. Thanks to our incredible sourcing agent, we diagnosed what went wrong and have ensured that it won’t happen again — and we managed to ensure everyone got the sweater he/she wanted. But that was truly one of those “startup moments” — it was a back-breaking 10 days of work with lots of coffee to stay awake and fast food to ease the pain.

ITC: What are your thoughts on how college students dress today vs., say, in the 1960s when ‘Take Ivy’ was released?

Woody: If a style-minded guy were asking me today what he ought to buy, I’d sooner tell him to invest in a pair of really cool sneakers — and a Hillflint sweater — than I would tell him to invest in a high quality sport coat. College students these days are much more casual and diverse and part of our cultural milieu now consists of images of 25 year-old entrepreneurs in hoodies controlling gigantic companies. Unless you’re working on Wall Street or at a buttoned up law firm, you don’t really wear suits and ties at work, and certainly not in college.

One of our company’s advisors is Richard Press, the former CEO and President of J. Press, which is one of the premier outfitters for American men of all time. The Kennedy’s used to wear J. Press. Richard went to Dartmouth in the 1950s and his grandfather started the business in New Haven. Richard is considered one of the foremost living experts on prep style.

According to him, in the 50s and 60s, there were 4-6,000 undergraduates who wore suits and ties to class everyday. Then they all graduated into the Madison Avenue corporations and the likes, and bought more suits, ties and dress shirts. Bearing in mind that college campuses educated fewer students than they do today, that was a massive market.

At colleges in the 60s, preppy dress was a clear way to communicate status, enunciating the difference between kids who went to high school and kids who went to prep school. Prep-school educated kids wore soft-shouldered jackets, oxford cloth buttondowns, ties, tapered khakis, and penny loafers. But that was before the Civil Rights movement took full effect, at a time when financial aid was less available to rising collegians, a time before Johnson’s Higher Education Act of 1965 had its full impact, and a time when America’s top colleges tended to educate the wealthy white with a few public school educated over-achievers.

As our campuses have become more diverse and inclusive, I think the styles have changed and it is no longer as “cool” to convey status in the way that it once was. What’s most important is being respectful. I think a lot of college students mix a little American prep-inspiration with some street style inspiration.

ITC: True, the prep aesthetic is somewhat polarizing; what distinguishes Hillflint from other “preppy” brands that have struggled to corner the college student/young person market?

Woody: I think prep in the super literal sense is sort of waning. Not to say it’s not fun or acceptable to occasionally show up to a party in ridiculous critter pants, but in my view, brands like Ralph Lauren go overboard on their interpretation of preppiness and present a vision of an aspirational lifestyle that is pretty out of touch with what our generation wants. Sitting in an oak room library and smoking cigars probably doesn’t hold that much appeal these days. People can tell us that millennials are selfish and horrible to deal with in the workplace, but I think we are really idealistic and part of that means that I think we aspire to do more than just make enough money to buy a home in the Hamptons.

I think the typical style-minded college-aged/recently graduated customer is going to J. Crew and Uniqlo but is a bit dissatisfied with the level of quality he/she is getting for the price he/she is paying (or at least they should be). The styles appeal because they are the right mix of downtown and collegiate-inspired but the quality leaves a little left to be desired.

We want to create high quality items for the types of people we hang out with, while being sensitive to their wallets. Granted, my cofounder and I both went to Ivy League schools and our earliest adopters were our friends at these schools, so it’s inescapable that we take cues from Northeastern style. It’s also totally undeniable that the current set of college sweaters that we sell are “preppy.” But that really isn’t a statement about our intentions to be yet another 60s-prep-inspired brand. We’re still figuring out what our next items will be, but for now, we’re intent on creating the perfect sweater.

And trust me, the sweaters are awesome.

ITC: What are your plans for expanding in the NESCAC? Do you think there are any substantive differences between Ivy League and NESCAC students (i.e. as consumers, school pride etc.)?

Woody: At the NESCACs I think you get a lot of fun, quirky traditions. I come at this as former Princeton Squash super-fan. Our biggest rivalry was with Trinity, who owned the championship title from 1999 – 2011, until Princeton dethroned them my senior year. I went to almost every Princeton-Trinity match during my time in college, including the matches at Trinity’s campus. When I went to Trinity, I was the only Princeton guy there who wasn’t on the Princeton Squash team. Meanwhile, I have to hand it to the Trinity guys — when they played on our turf, they bussed in students by the hundreds who donned wild outfits like spandex onesies and tie-dyed wigs, and they unabashedly yelled and cheered during a sport where fans are ordinarily silent. It was hilarious.

Freshman year, my buddies and I actually posted signs all over Princeton’s campus to get people to go to the match and make sure the Trinity kids didn’t take all the seats — Trinity fans were that passionate about this stuff. I think it tells you about the quirkiness and the real collegiate feel of some of those NESCAC campuses that they can unite so strongly around a squash match.

That said, I think we’re all of the same ilk — Ivy students and NESCAC students attend small schools in the Northeast with incredible academic traditions. I think the real differences between schools is not a result of a school’s being NESCAC vs. Ivy but instead just on a school to school basis. Some schools emphasize research more than others, some emphasize undergraduate education more than others (this tends to be true across NESCAC schools), other schools emphasize professional education or entrepreneurship, others have sports teams that rank number one in their league, and so on.

]]>http://inthecac.com/2014/09/10/ivy-league-sweater-startup-hillflint-coming-to-the-cac/feed/0Getting Intimate With My Elitist Indignationhttp://inthecac.com/2014/08/22/getting-intimate-with-my-elitist-indignation/
http://inthecac.com/2014/08/22/getting-intimate-with-my-elitist-indignation/#commentsFri, 22 Aug 2014 21:18:29 +0000http://inthecac.com/?p=160583Editor’s Note: The author of this post, Daisy (@daisandconfused), founded In The ‘Cac in 2011. She resides in New York, New York with a laptop and a cutting wit.

By the end of high school, I was well on my way to becoming one of the “Super People” Deresiewicz describes. But if I could cull one perfect memory of my teenage self it would be from the end of sophomore year—before college applications started, and the elbowing for rank that they entailed.

I’m standing in the courtyard of my public high school with garden hose in hand, looking at a single strawberry bursting into view. I’d planted the strawberries as part of a butterfly garden—a biology project that turned into a lovingly tended enhancement of the prisonlike space. In that moment, the best thing about me wasn’t my grades or preternatural ability to go without sleep, but my capacity to create beauty where there was none.

Six years later, my parents and I are paying off college loans. Life is full of minor annoyances—rude customer service, legally dubious landlords, and condescending sports bar conversationalists. Not quick to anger, I’m alarmed to find that in rare moments of indignation my elitism emerges, surprising in its sharpness.

Like a pretty girl expecting free drinks, or a “nice guy” expecting sexual favors for the accomplishment of not being a schmuck, I harbor a sense of what I am owed—and it comes from my college diploma. That’s right, somewhere along the way I began to praise myself for what I’ve been praised for: winning a spot in one of America’s top colleges and seeing my degree through to completion.

Education is a consumer good that claims it will enlighten us; actually, like all luxury goods, education reinforces elitism rooted in the primitive human behavior of us vs. them. An education that teaches us that the best thing about ourselves is our education, rather than our humanness, fails at encouraging the development of “the self”, which Deresiewicz hammers as an essential mission of higher education.

Furthermore, anytime I think I am owed something due to my educational pedigree, I am subscribing to the belief that others are owed less.

When I feel tired and cheated, put upon by the bureaucracy of urban life or stupidity of some stranger, my default is not to champion what I am owed as a human being; but, rather, what I am owed as a college graduate. I want to emphasize that this feeling is separate from whiteness and privilege—it’s an idea about education as a product. Is this product an extension of privilege? Sure. But students of all backgrounds passing through elite schools are granted equal permission to be forevermore bound by the deep-seated belief that they are better than everyone else.

The origin of the word alumni is the Latin “alere”: to nourish. To Deresiewicz, Ivy League schools have failed to nourish the self, and instead produce “zombies”. Under such conditions, it’s not enough to say students need more confidence, more curiosity. We must ask what the point of an education is, if not to elevate us above the primitive instinct that leads us to distrust those unlike ourselves. (Or, if not to distrust, to perpetually move in a sphere where difference is out of sight and out of mind.)

There is something incredibly animalistic about the insider/outside dynamic that binds college alumni together. Upon scrutiny, a sense of our superior quality is our most discernible tie. Empathy—which, when successfully taught, is a powerful adhesive for human connection—does not figure into many of our personal and professional relationships.

What is the purpose of an education that doesn’t humble us? Where can this humility come from, if not from the knowledge of our common humanity?

And yet, our very humanness is politicized. Traditionalists paint an education laced with messages of equality as nothing more than a pipeline for liberal pet causes. On the other end of the spectrum, thinly veiled Judeo-Christian lessons and the celebration of “American” thought border on xenophobia.

I ask myself, without irony, where the path is to the edict in Romans 12:2, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind”.

Higher education is our brightest hope to separate inquiry from instinct, and teach us to conquer our natural tendency toward belief in cultural superiority. But the system, as Deresiewicz describes, has become a jostling of the upper middle class in the midst of each institution’s effort to preserve its bank account (and relevance).

Consider the college athletic event. In the crowd’s jeers of “Safety school!” and the less subtle “Pump our gas!” every student can find their elitist indignation.

In the rousing welcome speeches of a college president touting the lowest annual admissions rate ever, meritocracy runs amok. After four years of being endlessly congratulated for their expensive participation in the myth of institutional meritocracy, it is no wonder that students forget their individual merits.

At accepted student’s day, my admissions officer remembered me as ‘the butterfly girl’. You could say that the garden was my ‘hook’—the thing that set my application apart from other overachieving applicants. But what was my hook coming out of college? Surely it runs deeper than the same diploma that everyone else received?

I disagree with Deresiewicz that impersonal, albeit diverse, public institutions are the solution to uninspired graduates. From sports teams, to freshman dorms, to Greek life, college students will perpetually carve out social enclaves of convenience and like-mindedness—neither of which are conducive to the development of the self, or a departure from elitism.

Education, at its core, is enlightenment transcending status. This pureness of intent is obviously flawed once attached to an institution–but that’s no excuse to give up on the ideal to create equality where there is none.

Truly, seeking out status is all we’ll ever know how to do, until some enterprising reformer can rouse education from its complicity in groupthink. A well-educated mob is still a mob. Faced with a room full of students we believe to be the cream of the crop we must challenge rather than congratulate them.

This challenge? To spend four years unlearning petty social divides, and internalizing that the world owes us only one thing: a lifetime of self-discovery.

]]>http://inthecac.com/2014/08/22/getting-intimate-with-my-elitist-indignation/feed/0Double Jeopardy or Just Deserts?http://inthecac.com/2014/07/24/double-jeopardy-or-just-desserts/
http://inthecac.com/2014/07/24/double-jeopardy-or-just-desserts/#commentsThu, 24 Jul 2014 21:04:13 +0000http://inthecac.com/?p=112743The past few years have seen a host of sexual assault-related lawsuits and complaints aimed at NESCAC colleges, most recently at Wesleyan – if the University goes through with a rumored plan to essentially dismantle its fraternity system, two lawsuits brought by survivors of sexual assault will have played a substantial role. A 2010 suit alleged negligence on the part of Beta Theta Pi and Wesleyan for inadequately handling a sexual assault that occurred in Beta’s fraternity house, and a suit in March this year alleged that negligence on the part of Psi Upsilon allowed the plaintiff to be raped at a party in 2013. Tufts, meanwhile, came under investigation in April by the US Department of Education in the wake of a student’s complaint that the University did not address her sexual assault case in a timely and equitable manner.

Now, an accused perpetrator of sexual assault is claiming in court that Amherst—which came under fire this past year for botching a number of sexual assault cases—has handled his own case unfairly.

The student, who is from South Africa and is dubbed John Doe in court documents, was supposed to graduate this spring. In mid-May, shortly before he would have received his degree, the College’s Title IX coordinator, Laurie Frankl, launched a formal investigation into allegations that Doe had assaulted his freshman-year roommate in the fall of 2009. Doe was told he would not receive his degree until the investigation concluded and a misconduct board hearing could take place. Frankl learned of the sexual assault when the survivor questioned why Doe had been hired by the Office of Admissions to serve as a student ambassador.

When the alleged assault occurred in 2009, Doe’s roommate reported it to the administration and was moved to a different room; he was not, however, told that he could or should pursue a case—either disciplinary or criminal—against his assailant. Rather, then-Dean of First-Year Students Allen Hart placed Doe on medical leave for alcohol abuse and “deeper personal issues” that, according to court documents, had contributed to “multiple episodes of improper, non-consensual personal contact with other students.” According to the Huffington Post, Hart “also wrote in another letter that he placed Doe on a medical leave ‘rather than impose a disciplinary suspension.’” When Doe returned to the College after his leave, he was placed on probation and was told violations of the honor code could result in further disciplinary action.

Amherst’s initial response to the allegations against Doe is consistent with complaints—such as those in former Amherst student Angie Epifano’s jarring 2012 expose—that the College has traditionally been wont to handle sexual assault cases quietly and internally, rather than encourage victims to seek the full administrative and legal recourses available to them. In a statement to HuffPo, the survivor stated he thought Amherst “mishandled everything” when he first reported the assault.

The student Doe assaulted left Amherst in 2011.

Doe is suing for $2 million in damages on the basis that his medical leave and probation were appropriate punishment for his act, and that further punishment subjects him to double jeopardy – a defense used in criminal cases that protects the accused from facing prosecution twice for the same charge. The College moved swiftly to come down on Doe after the allegations against him re-surfaced; the College fired Doe from his admissions job soon after Frankl re-opened the investigation. Now Doe claims he might face deportation, which the College characterized as “speculation”.

Amherst is certainly not the only college to sweep a sexual assault case under the rug; in fact, the Department of Education announced in May that it was investigating 55 schools for failing to adequately handle sexual assault claims. The outcome of this case could determine whether numerous flawed investigations and ensuing punishments—or the lack thereof—open the door for new, transparent investigations, or whether alleged rapists are protected from the punishment they avoided within a broken system.

]]>http://inthecac.com/2014/07/24/double-jeopardy-or-just-desserts/feed/0UPDATED UPDATE: Bowdoin Doesn’t Actually Recognize Evangelical Student Group After Allhttp://inthecac.com/2014/06/12/updated-update-bowdoin-doesnt-actually-recognize-evangelical-student-group/
http://inthecac.com/2014/06/12/updated-update-bowdoin-doesnt-actually-recognize-evangelical-student-group/#commentsThu, 12 Jun 2014 20:47:00 +0000http://inthecac.com/?p=112193After speculating in our last post about the seemingly-factual disparities between Michael Paulson’s New York Times article (Colleges and Evangelicals Collide on Bias Policy — June 10, 2014) and Bowdoin’s official statement regarding their recognition of the Bowdoin Christian Fellowship, we have learned that Bowdoin’s got some pretty crafty wordsmiths in their communications department. Many peoples’ confusion has centered around the College’s assertion that,

Contrary to the Times article, the College continues to recognize the Bowdoin Christian Fellowship (BCF) and has no plans to drop that recognition after this summer.

We’ll address the second part of the sentence first. True, Bowdoin probably doesn’t have any plans to drop recognition of the BCF after this summer. In fact, they couldn’t even if they wanted to. That’s because a group needs to actually be recognized in the first place for such an action to occur, and right now–and actually for the past few weeks, if not months–the College has not formally recognized the BCF. Bowdoin spokesman Scott Hood, in disputing the Times’ account, told the Bangor Daily that they had “taken no steps to ‘unrecognize’ Bowdoin Christian Fellowship. The error — it’s semantics, I suppose — is that they reported that we have cut their recognition.” Hood’s statement is not really untruthful, since Bowdoin did not actively disown the BCF. But, contrary to what the College told the Bangor Daily, the group is for all intents and purposes an unofficial student group and will remain that way indefinitely due to their refusal to accept Bowdoin’s nondiscrimination policy.

Student groups at Bowdoin are all required to submit a charter to the Bowdoin Student Government (which operates under the Dean of Student Affairs), and BCF did that in the spring. But even after the College raised concerns about the group’s faculty advisors, Robert and Sim Gregory–who both refused to sign the College’s nondiscrimination policy–the BCF included the Gregorys on their charter as advisor volunteers. The Student Government thus would not accept the group’s charter, and the BCF leaders withdrew their charter application, thus ending the possibility of receiving official group recognition, sponsorship, funding, and access to facilities. According to Paulson’s statements to the Bangor Daily (and confirmed in our conversation with him), the current BCF members have no plans to re-submit a charter in the fall because they–the students, not just their volunteer advisors–refuse to accept the College’s requirement that the group not discriminate against students who do not hold the same beliefs as them.

Other colleges and universities, such as Vanderbilt and Cal State (which Paulson wrote about in his article as well) have been much more up-front about their intent to un-recognize any student group that fails to live up their non-discrimination policies; though Bowdoin forced the BCF’s hand by challenging their volunteers, the College does not seem to want to directly address the evangelical Christian group’s refusal to accept its nondiscrimination policies. Group membership always changes, and the situation could be much different in the fall, but for now the Times got it right: whether or not Bowdoin has “no plans” to drop their recognition of the BCF after the summer, the group will no longer have an official affiliation with the College.

]]>http://inthecac.com/2014/06/12/updated-update-bowdoin-doesnt-actually-recognize-evangelical-student-group/feed/0UPDATE: Bowdoin Does Not Sever Ties With Evangelical Student Grouphttp://inthecac.com/2014/06/12/update-bowdoin-does-not-sever-ties-with-evangelical-student-group/
http://inthecac.com/2014/06/12/update-bowdoin-does-not-sever-ties-with-evangelical-student-group/#commentsThu, 12 Jun 2014 17:17:16 +0000http://inthecac.com/?p=112190Contra the New York Times, who reported on June 10 that Bowdoin will “no longer” recognize the Bowdoin Christian Fellowship after the summer, the College claims that they “have no plans” to drop recognition, and will continue to support the BCF in perpetuity. It seems like this discrepancy may not necessarily be an error on the Times’ part, but rather the result of a confusing situation for the group, and potentially an about-face by the College in the face of criticism for stifling religious freedom (as Michael Paulson at the Times seemed to hint at). The article suggests that BCF members (and even Bowdoin officials) did in fact believe the group was losing recognition:

A few weeks ago, the Bowdoin group gathered for a final dinner at the Center for Multicultural and Spiritual Life at the college, thanking not only the graduating seniors, but also Robert and Sim Gregory, who volunteered with Bowdoin for a decade but are no longer recognized as advisers.

The students, who plan to meet informally in the fall and may seek an off-campus site for worship, are bewildered by the turn of events. “We can’t discriminate on religion, and we’re a religious group!” exclaimed Olivia Cannon, 18, a Bowdoin student.

Reid Wilson, 23, a leader of the group who has since graduated, rued the turn of events. “It’s hard socially to find people on this campus who make faith a strong part of their identity — people who really understand me and who I can really be open with,” he said. “This group has been a tremendous resource for me.”

Bowdoin officials say they, too, are disappointed.

“I want them on campus, because it’s a sanctuary for many of our conservative evangelical students — Bowdoin has accepted these students, and they need a place, and they need to have their faith challenged,” said the Rev. Robert Ives, a United Church of Christ minister who is the director of religious and spiritual life at Bowdoin. “But every organization has to be open to every student, and every position of leadership has to be open to any individual, without discrimination.”

The confusion seems to be related to the two volunteers, Robert and Sim Gregory. The Bowdoin Orient published an article in February that elucidates the conflict the couple has had with Bowdoin officials, most notably their refusal to sign the College’s then-new Volunteer Agreement, which essentially holds volunteers at the College to the same standard as the student handbook, including Bowdoin’s “Freedom from Discrimination and Harassment” policy. Said

Rob and Sim Gregory, who have served as volunteer advisors to the Bowdoin Christian Fellowship (BCF) for eight and nine years respectively, will step down from their roles at the end of this academic year due to their refusal to sign the College’s Volunteer Agreement. Though the Gregorys will no longer hold an official position at the College, they are not banned from visiting or giving talks on campus… The Gregorys said that signing the non-discrimination policy would violate their faith and the Christian gospel they teach, specifically their scriptural interpretations of sexuality.

Had the BCF decided to keep the Gregorys–who are loosely affiliated with the national IntraVarsity Christian Fellowship–on as volunteer advisors, the group would have had to renounce ties with the College, or the College would have withdrawn recognition of the group. But the Orient article states that the group was expected to “proceed to find a new advisor.” Based on the Times article it seems the student in BCF were expecting to lose recognition from the College despite the Gregorys’ departure as advisors, or they have decided to forge ahead as an unofficial group in order to determine who they can or can’t admit to the group or group leadership. Less likely–though certainly within reason–is the College told the BCF they would no longer recognize the group, then in the wake of the article’s release changed course.

At any rate, at the moment Bowdoin, loathe to be accused of “interfering with the ability of faith-based student groups to worship freely” (their words from Tuesday’s press release), is recognizing the BCF and the student-members’ ability to “choose their own leaders” (also from the press release). Every student at Bowdoin in bound by the College’s policies against discrimination, so presumably the BCF has and always will be prohibited from barring LGBT students from the group and from leadership; whether they will end up on campus or off, bound by the College’s policies or not, however, remains to be seen.

]]>http://inthecac.com/2014/06/12/update-bowdoin-does-not-sever-ties-with-evangelical-student-group/feed/1Bowdoin Severs Ties With Evangelical Student Grouphttp://inthecac.com/2014/06/10/evangelical-college-groups-across-the-country-lose-funding-and-recognition-including-the-bowdoin-christian-fellowship/
http://inthecac.com/2014/06/10/evangelical-college-groups-across-the-country-lose-funding-and-recognition-including-the-bowdoin-christian-fellowship/#commentsTue, 10 Jun 2014 17:25:59 +0000http://inthecac.com/?p=112180Last spring, we reported that the Tufts Christian Fellowship had accepted a denial of funding and recognition by the Tufts Community Union (TCU) due to its belief that homosexuality is a sin. This belief, and the attached requirement that all members (including any potential gay members) accept this belief was against the non-discrimination rules of the TCU, the Union members found. Denial of recognition means the group cannot use Tufts branding or facilites, and denial of funding obviously limits the activities of the group.

The New York Timesreported yesterday (and printed today on the front page) that such clashes of policy are spreading, including to Bowdoin College. This winter, the Bowdoin Christian Fellowship’s volunteer advisors had their official positions at the college terminated due to their refusal to sign the new Volunteer Agreement. Meg Robbins and Marisa McGarry of the Bowdoin Orient reported:

Introduced this fall, the Agreement requires all volunteers associated with the College to formally agree to comply with the College’s policies. Among the policies outlined in the Agreement is Bowdoin’s Freedom from Discrimination and Harassment policy, which prohibits discrimination against any Bowdoin community member based on factors that include race, religion, sex and sexual orientation.

Apparently, this change has now been extended to the entire group. “After this summer, the Bowdoin Christian Fellowship will no longer be recognized by the college,” writes Micheal Paulson in the Times. The Bowdoin group has about 25 active members.

In a collision between religious freedom and anti-discrimination policies, the student group, and its advisers, have refused to agree to the college’s demand that any student, regardless of his or her religious beliefs, should be able to run for election as a leader of any group, including the Christian association.
…Already, the college has disabled the electronic key cards of the group’s longtime volunteer advisers.

Both the Tufts and Bowdoin Christian Fellowships were chapters of InterVarsity, a national association of evangelical student groups, and their policies were in accordance with those laid down by IV. All NESCAC schools have InterVarsity chapters (or at least did, before they were disaffiliated). The president of InterVarsity Alex Hill called Bowdoin’s move “absurd”.

For their part, Bowdoin officials also expressed disappointment that they had to cut ties with the Christian Fellowship (which, like at Tufts, means the group will not receive funding and cannot use the Bowdoin name or associated branding, Bowdoin facilities, or participate in on-campus recruiting events). Said Rev. Robert Ives, a United Church of Christ minister who is the director of religious and spiritual life at Bowdoin:

“I want them on campus, because it’s a sanctuary for many of our conservative evangelical students — Bowdoin has accepted these students, and they need a place, and they need to have their faith challenged. But every organization has to be open to every student, and every position of leadership has to be open to any individual, without discrimination.”

More stories like this are probably to be expected in the future as students at NESCAC schools and elsewhere grapple with negotiating how to accommodate religious diversity, while also taking a stand against discrimination and bias.

]]>http://inthecac.com/2014/06/10/evangelical-college-groups-across-the-country-lose-funding-and-recognition-including-the-bowdoin-christian-fellowship/feed/0Tufts Has Settled Its Title IX Case With the Fedshttp://inthecac.com/2014/05/13/tufts-has-settled-its-title-ix-case-with-the-feds/
http://inthecac.com/2014/05/13/tufts-has-settled-its-title-ix-case-with-the-feds/#commentsTue, 13 May 2014 15:33:42 +0000http://inthecac.com/?p=112172We reported two weeks ago that the Department of Education had found Tufts in violation of Title IX gender equity requirements due to its policies for responding to sexual assault. This weekend, the Associated Press reports, the University settled with the government.

Tufts has been embroiled in controversy (and progress) over its sexual assault response for several years, including a four year investigation by the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR). From our previous article:

On April 17, the University signed a Voluntary Resolution Agreement with OCR, a document that OCR calls an “agreement to remedy … violations”, and which outlines both actions Tufts has taken and is planning on taking to address sexual assault and harassment. At this time, the University claims that up to this point the OCR “consistently affirmed our progress and current compliance with the law.”

On April 22, the OCR informed the University that it found its current sexual assault policies in noncompliance with Title IX–not just its policies at the time of the assault in 2010. In response to this finding (that the University calls “serious” and “unsubstantiated”), Tufts revoked its signature from the Voluntary Resolution Agreement.

On April 28, the Department of Education announced that due to the University’s revocation of the agreement, it would “move to initiate proceedings to terminate federal funding of Tufts or to enforce the agreement.”

When the suit was announced, students protested the administration, chanting “Re-sign or resign” in Ballou Hall, “In the university’s largest rally since the late 1980s,” according to the Tufts Daily. President Anthony Monaco acknowledged at this point the OCR’s complaints and travelled to Washington to negotiate with the OCR. The Daily reported that “Monaco said he is willing to sign a new agreement — even one that acknowledges Tufts has violated Title IX — as long as the OCR explains how the university has broken the law and ‘is very clear about what we have to do.”‘

On the May 10th, Monaco did just that. Monaco said he reaffirmed the agreement the university revoked in April after the Education Department said it wasn’t compliant with Title IX, a federal law that prohibits sex discrimination and affects federal education funding. Catherine Lhamon, assistant Education Department secretary for civil rights, commended Tufts for “taking swift action” and thanked Monaco.” In a written statement, Monaco wrote, “We had a productive conversation which clarified OCR’s concerns with Tufts’ Title IX compliance, and we are now engaged in discussions to address them. At that meeting I officially reaffirmed our commitment to the voluntary agreement and to resolving issues as quickly as possible.”